Larry Brown, left, coached Allen Iverson early in the star point guard's career with the 76ers. / Eileen Blass, USA TODAY Sports

by Eric Prisbell, USA TODAY Sports

by Eric Prisbell, USA TODAY Sports

DALLAS - When Larry Brown first told his SMU players a few weeks ago which former NBA player was scheduled to speak to them, freshman Keith Frazier became so emotional he started crying.

Other former pros like David Robinson and Avery Johnson also gave inspired talks to Brown's SMU players this month. But there was one in particular, Allen Iverson, who left players in awe.

"Allen was phenomenal," Brown said Wednesday. "He told them a lot of things kids needed to hear. He was really humble. He spoke for about 45 minutes. He could have spoken for three hours and nobody would have moved."

As Iverson prepares to officially retire in a pregame ceremony Wednesday night before the Philadelphia 76ers host the Miami Heat, Brown reflected on his ex-star's legacy and influence.

"He is the best player his size to ever play the game," Brown, who coached Iverson from 1997 to 2003, said of the 6-0, 165-pound guard. "And maybe the toughest, maybe as good of an athlete that has ever played our game, and as good of an competitor. I hope everyone understands that."

As the Sixers' coach, Brown understood Iverson's appeal because, he said, many people just knew him as the man who coached Allen Iverson and made him practice. But he fully grasped Iverson's influence in recent years when, while out of coaching, he would visit college practices and "every kid wanted to talk to me about Allen."

"It was always about Allen," Brown said. "I used to tell him all the time, 'You don't know just what you mean to so many people.' He would never fathom that."

Iverson, who famously crossed Michael Jordan over as a rookie in March 1997, was known for his irrepressible scoring ability and for how hard he always played (in games, not necessarily in practice).

"I just wish there was some way the league could honor him," Brown said. "It is one thing doing it in Philly when they retire his jersey. But he needed to go to every arena and have people show what he meant."